I've gathered some great information over the past few weeks. Here's an update on the following topics:1) Rail Destressing & Tie Replacement Projects2) Boston Landing & Allston single track3) Turn Table for new schedule4) Track assignments for new schedule

1) Rail Destressing & Tie Replacement Projects

It was a race to the heat and the weather won. The MBTA was trying their best to accelerate the rail destressing construction so that it would be completed before the hot weather arrived. Our little late May heat wave dashed those hopes.

As I've previously reported, the funding for the completion of ALL rail destressing between Boston and Worcester was only approved in late March. Until that point, there was one large section of rail that would never have been destressed. So along with the tie replacement project, the last portion of the entire rail destressing project has been ongoing throughout this spring.

The last sections of track that needed destressing are typically used for inbound trains in the afternoon. All of the 'outbound' tracks have already been destressed. So how do outbound trains become delayed in that scenario?

As you may recall, the new schedule eliminated the idea of 'interlining' trains. Meaning that there are now 8 sets of equipment dedicated to the Framingham-Worcester line. They just go back and forth from Worcester (or Framingham) to Boston. In the middle of the day, some of them are parked in yards or go for service, since 8 train sets aren't needed for the reduced service in the middle of the day.

With no interlined trains, a delayed inbound train can delay an outbound train since that inbound equipment is needed for outbound trips. The inbound/outbound non-interlining system is also a reason why evening trains are delayed even though the construction ended before rush hour.

That's why it was so important to get all of the tracks destressed. So kudos again to however they came up with the money for these construction projects - we've gotten a big influx of money and the payoff will be good.

The other good news is that both the rail destressing project and the tie replacement project are ahead of schedule and will be completed in June. So only a few more weeks of construction and heat restrictions. After the projects are complete, there will be no more heat restrictions and no more construction delays west of Boston Landing. Hang in there, we're almost there!

Actually there will be construction later this year. The tie replacement project will continue on track 2 west of Framingham in the fall. So we're not completely done with construction delays. But the summer should be much better than recent weeks.

To be specific, the current status of the rail destressing project is:

Track 2:CP 4 to Framingham - destressed in 2015.Framingham to Worcester - destressing will be completed in June.

CP = "Controlled Point." You can read about the definition of CP in the glossary.CP 4 = The interlocking just west of the new Boston Landing construction. CP 4 is where the two tracks from Worcester become a single track through the Beacon Park freight yard.CP 11 = What I call the "Weston switch," this is the interlocking between the Wellesley Farms and Auburndale stations, right next to the Leo J. Martin golf course and just west of Route 128.

Until Track 2 is fully destressed, certain sections of track 2 between Framingham and Worcester will have a 30 mph speed restriction imposed in hot weather. The previous rule was that ambient temperatures above 85 degrees at Worcester, Framingham, or Boston triggered the heat restrictions and that appears to be what happened on Tuesday 5/25. The temperature spiked above 85 degrees at Framingham and the heat restrictions were imposed. I'm not sure if Boston is still a part of the rule since the section of affected track is far from Boston. And who knows, the entire rule could have changed.

If you're a first time reader and would like the background on heat restrictions and rail destressing, read this post for an introduction to the topic. Also don't forget to use the 'category' links on the right side of this page to read all the posts about certain topics.

Astute readers may notice that I don't spend much time talking about the tie replacement project in the above discussion regarding heat restrictions. That's because the tie replacement actually has nothing to do with removing heat restrictions - the rail destressing is performed FIRST, and then the ties are replaced after the rail is destressed. The tie replacement is important, but it won't affect heat restrictions, regardless of what politicians and the mainstream media try to tell us.

The tie replacement project is proactive maintenance that maintains the track in good condition. Rotted ties are one of the most common causes of speed restrictions. Some of you may recall a 5 mph speed restriction just west of Yawkey at the CP 3 interlocking for about a week in April or May. That speed restriction was imposed after the FRA (Federal Railway Administration) inspection car came across the line and found TWO rotted ties at that location. That was enough to impose a speed restriction for safety purposes. So proactive tie replacement is very important to avoid the imposition of those speed restrictions (and keep the system safe!), but it doesn't really have anything to do with heat restrictions.

However, tie replacement is actually more disruptive to the rail bed than rail destressing. Therefore tie replacement results in speed restrictions that last longer (on the calendar) and affect more trains over more days. Areas where the ties are replaced have new ballast (stone) spread and tamped, which takes time to settle and stabilize. This results in a requirement for temporary speed restrictions related to the amount of tonnage (number and weight of trains) that pass over the modified railbed.

Most of the tie replacement has been completed (obviously, since they only have a few weeks left of construction!). The remaining few sections for tie replacement include a section on track 1 in Wellesley and Natick, a section within and near Framingham station on track 1, and a section on track 1 in Ashland and Southboro. Track 1 through Wellesley and Natick never carries rush hour trains (AM or PM), so temporary speed restrictions there don't affect most of us. Track 1 from Framingham to Worcester is the outbound track (all day), so temporary speed restrictions have affected lots of passengers on that stretch and will continue to affect us. It should also be noted that the temporary speed restrictions related to the tie replacement project will last PAST the completion of construction - again, the speed restriction remains in place until a certain amount of tonnage passes over the disturbed railbed. So expect delays through the Ashland and Southboro areas through June on track 1 (outbound track).

2) Boston Landing & Allston Single Track

The background on Boston Landing station is in this post. More good news to report today - the construction is ahead of schedule and the station should be completed before the end of this year. The original schedule put construction completion in the spring of 2017. With both the Celtics and Bruins practice facilities being built at Boston Landing, maybe we'll see players taking the train to practice this winter?

As most of you are aware, the section of track from CP 4 (near Boston Landing) to CP 3 (just west of Yawkey) has been the only section of single track between Worcester and Boston since the Mass Pike extension was built in the 1960's. That foolish decision is now being corrected, with the MBTA and Keolis starting construction on a second mainline track through this section.

As you pass through the former Beacon Park freight yard you can see this construction. The first step in the process is the removal of the 40 foot sections of 'stick rail,' which will be replaced with continuously welded rail. All of the switches connecting into the freight yard are also currently being removed. The path of the new mainline 'second track' will follow the existing path of the freight lead closest to the existing single track mainline. This includes going up onto the little 'rise' and under the Mass Pike viaduct since there is a column supporting the Mass Pike preventing the second track from being directly adjacent to the existing single track.

The only bad news is that this second track construction will be synchronized with the completion of the Boston Landing station, so the second track won't be completed as soon as we would all like. The new second track will be 'stubbed out' to align with the new tracks alongside the new Boston Landing station and only connected once the tracks alongside the station are completed.

For fellow rail nerds, part of this overall project will be the decommissioning of CP 4 (it will no longer exist as an interlocking). It will be replaced with a new interlocking at CP 6, which will be on the straight / tangent rail section along the Mass Pike near the Staples store on Soldiers Field Road. A freight lead switch will be included somewhere near Boston Landing station and the former location of CP 4 to allow freight trains to access the parts of Beacon Park yard still in service.

3) Turn Table for New Schedule

I've updated the "Turn Table" for the new schedule. Theoretically, with 8 dedicated sets of equipment, we should be able to figure out the 'turns' at South Station as well as the 'turns' at Worcester. I gave it a try but it is impossible since all of the equipment goes to storage or service in the middle of the day. How that equipment returns to service in the afternoon is where I couldn't 'reverse engineer' the schedule. We'll see if I can't get some additional information and create a more comprehensive table of equipment usage and all equipment turns.

4) Track Assignments for New Schedule

As detailed in previous blog posts, the 'inbound' and 'outbound' tracks are really not labeled properly or helpfully. Based on the new schedule, I've updated my table of track assignments, which includes the status of the rail destressing as of now. As explained above, this table will soon be covered entirely in green!

Also note that there are no leapfrog moves with the new schedule, and the Newton stretch is kept more consistent than with previous schedules (at the expense of reverse commute options for Newton passengers). Overall an operational improvement that should result in better service and less delays (remember, the current delays are primarily related to construction, and those should be gone soon).

With the summer heat restrictions in effect very early today, I thought it would be good to re-post the 'table of turn times,' even though I've blogged about it before.

The basic usefulness of this table is that the lateness of an outbound train may affect an inbound train - and this table will tell us which outbound train affects which inbound train, and how long the delay needs to be before the inbound train is definitely affected.

For example, Keolis is currently advertising P515 as "15-25" minutes delayed. So that could be a problem for P522, but it will be close.

***581 is a non-revenue move that departs Boston at 4:45 AM and arrives in Worcester at 5:53 AM. These times can be helpful for us...theoretically, if it is after 4:45 AM and MBTA / Keolis has NOT cancelled 582, there is a good chance it will operate, since the equipment has probably left Boston en route to Worcester. That theory is only partially true since the following things could happen:1) MBTA / Keolis decides to delay sending out the cancellation notice for 582. 2) 581 might break down somewhere between Boston and Worcester or in Worcester.3) If some other layover equipment in Worcester is dead, MBTA / Keolis may decide to use the 581 / 582 equipment from Boston as a different train. I'm not sure that this has or would ever happen, but it is a possibility.

Recently on Twitter a fellow rider and I had a discussion about trying to predict if an inbound train would be late based on the lateness of an outbound train. This conversation prompted me to go through and figure out (and write down) the whole equipment usage for the Framingham Worcester line. Here it is...with some explanation.

First of all, we need to get some definitions out of the way:"Equipment" (as used in this post) = one train set, consisting of a locomotive and coach cars. "Turn" = the process of changing one set of equipment from an outbound to an inbound (or vice versa) train."Non-revenue" = movement of a train set from one place to another, BUT without passengers. A non-revenue move is a regularly 'scheduled' move with specific times, but isn't on the public MBTA schedule (it is on the employee timetable). Non-revenue moves also don't show up on the GPS tracking apps. "Layover" = overnight 'parking' for a train set on a dedicated siding where it can be plugged into ground power. At the current time, the Worcester MBTA yard has capacity to layover 4 train sets. No trains currently layover in Framingham or anywhere else on the line.

As I noted on Twitter, it is impossible to predict turns at South Station. Equipment is used interchangeably (well almost, there are some restrictions or considerations) on all south side lines. In other words, the equipment used on Framingham / Worcester throughout the day does NOT stay dedicated to the Framingham / Worcester line. A set arriving at South Station from Worcester may go back out to Needham or Providence, and a set originating in South Station bound for Worcester may have come from Providence or Needham or elsewhere. I'm sure there is a master plan of entire south side turns, but I'll bet changes have to made almost daily to accommodate late (or broken) trains. Therefore, since the South Station turns are so dynamically managed, it wouldn't help us very much to understand the entire south side master plan. But it is worth noting that delays on other lines CAN result in delays on the Framingham / Worcester line.

However, at Framingham and Worcester, the turns are very predictable and can help us understand delays. So without further rambling, here is the entire schedule of weekday equipment usage on the Framingham / Worcester line. The list above notes the location of the turn and the duration of the turn (the difference between the scheduled arrival time of the outbound train and the scheduled departure time of the inbound train). The duration of the turn can help us understand the impact of a delay. For example, if train 513 is only delayed 5 minutes, it might not delay the schedule of 520. But if 513 is delayed 30 minutes, it will almost certainly delay the schedule of train 520.

Acknowledgements: I first posted this to the railroad.net forum for confirmation and clarification of some aspects of my list. Thanks to the contributors there.

***581 is a non-revenue move that departs Boston at 4:45 AM and arrives in Worcester at 5:53 AM. These times can be helpful for us...theoretically, if it is after 4:45 AM and MBTA / Keolis has NOT cancelled 582, there is a good chance it will operate, since the equipment has probably left Boston en route to Worcester. That theory is only partially true since the following things could happen:1) MBTA / Keolis decides to delay sending out the cancellation notice for 582. 2) 581 might break down somewhere between Boston and Worcester or in Worcester.3) If some other layover equipment in Worcester is dead, MBTA / Keolis may decide to use the 581 / 582 equipment from Boston as a different train. I'm not sure that this has or would ever happen, but it is a possibility.

<NOTE: As of 6/8/2015, this table is no longer current. Read more recent blog posts for accurate "Turn Table." But the explanation of what this is (below) is still accurate. The "Turn Table" now has its own page here.><This post edited on 5/25/15 to move the list to the top of the post. Explanation of what this is all about is below.><This post edited on 5/28/15 to add discussion regarding 581>

[581 note added 5/28/15]581 is a non-revenue move that departs Boston at 4:45 AM and arrives in Worcester at 5:53 AM. These times can be helpful for us...theoretically, if it is after 4:45 AM and MBTA / Keolis has NOT cancelled 582, there is a good chance it will operate, since the equipment has probably left Boston en route to Worcester. That theory is only partially true since the following things could happen:1) MBTA / Keolis decides to delay sending out the cancellation notice for 582. 2) 581 might break down somewhere between Boston and Worcester or in Worcester.3) If some other layover equipment in Worcester is dead, MBTA / Keolis may decide to use the 581 / 582 equipment from Boston as a different train. I'm not sure that this has or would ever happen, but it is a possibility.

_________________________original post:

Recently on Twitter a fellow rider and I had a discussion about trying to predict if an inbound train would be late based on the lateness of an outbound train. This conversation prompted me to go through and figure out (and write down) the whole equipment usage for the Framingham Worcester line. Here it is...with some explanation.

First of all, we need to get some definitions out of the way:"Equipment" (as used in this post) = one train set, consisting of a locomotive and coach cars. "Turn" = the process of changing one set of equipment from an outbound to an inbound (or vice versa) train."Non-revenue" = movement of a train set from one place to another, BUT without passengers. A non-revenue move is a regularly 'scheduled' move with specific times, but isn't on the public MBTA schedule (it is on the employee timetable). Non-revenue moves also don't show up on the GPS tracking apps. "Layover" = overnight 'parking' for a train set on a dedicated siding where it can be plugged into ground power. At the current time, the Worcester MBTA yard has capacity to layover 4 train sets. No trains currently layover in Framingham or anywhere else on the line.

As I noted on Twitter, it is impossible to predict turns at South Station. Equipment is used interchangeably (well almost, there are some restrictions or considerations) on all south side lines. In other words, the equipment used on Framingham / Worcester throughout the day does NOT stay dedicated to the Framingham / Worcester line. A set arriving at South Station from Worcester may go back out to Needham or Providence, and a set originating in South Station bound for Worcester may have come from Providence or Needham or elsewhere. I'm sure there is a master plan of entire south side turns, but I'll bet changes have to made almost daily to accommodate late (or broken) trains. Therefore, since the South Station turns are so dynamically managed, it wouldn't help us very much to understand the entire south side master plan. But it is worth noting that delays on other lines CAN result in delays on the Framingham / Worcester line.

However, at Framingham and Worcester, the turns are very predictable and can help us understand delays. So without further rambling, here is the entire schedule of weekday equipment usage on the Framingham / Worcester line. The list above notes the location of the turn and the duration of the turn (the difference between the scheduled arrival time of the outbound train and the scheduled departure time of the inbound train). The duration of the turn can help us understand the impact of a delay. For example, if train 513 is only delayed 5 minutes, it might not delay the schedule of 520. But if 513 is delayed 30 minutes, it will almost certainly delay the schedule of train 520.

Acknowledgements: I first posted this to the railroad.net forum for confirmation and clarification of some aspects of my list. Thanks to the contributors there.

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As of late October 2017, the author is an MBTA employee. Blog posts prior to that time were created when I was NOT affiliated with the MBTA nor Keolis and therefore were my own opinion. Blog posts after October 2017 are my own personal statements and do not represent any official position or opinion of the MBTA and should not be construed as having been endorsed by the MBTA.